Just 20 Minutes of Exercise Can Battle Your midafternoon Mental Slump

That “2:30 feeling” is well known by those of us who spend our workdays sitting at a desk. Mental fatigue is quick to set in when you’re sitting for a long period of time, especially after eating lunch. But luckily, you can reverse the slump in as little as 20 minutes. As reported by the Washington Post, a single workout can immediately boost higher-order thinking skills, making you more productive and efficient in tackling your to-do list.

When you exercise your legs, you also exercise your brain; this means that a lunchtime workout can improve your cognitive performance, thanks to blood flow and brain food. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, is a protein that facilitates the growth of neurons and nourishes existing ones.

The protein, in fact, can improve higher-order thinking that allows people to formulate arguments, develop strategies, solve problems in a creative manner and synthesize information. The Post details the many poets and writers who developed entire works in their mind while on a walk, writing it all down upon their return. Turns out that walking away from a task might just be the way to solve it.